Long-whiskered Owlet

SCI Name:  Xenoglaux loweryi
Protonym:  Xenoglaux loweryi Auk 94 p.409-416
Taxonomy:  Strigiformes / Strigidae / Xenoglaux
Taxonomy Code:  lowowl1
Type Locality:  
Author:  O''Neill & Graves
Publish Year:  1977
IUCN Status:  Vulnerable

DEFINITIONS

XENOGLAUX
(Strigidae; † Long-whiskered Owlet X. loweryi) Gr. ξενος xenos  stranger; γλαυξ glaux, γλαυκος glaukos  owl; “The bird in the bag was indeed an owl but totally unlike anything any of us had ever seen.  It was a tiny, bare-legged owl without ear tufts.  O'Neill's immediate impression was that it was "shaped like an Otus, the size of a Glaucidium, and colored like a Lophostrix."  To this day the little owl has remained as exciting to us as it was on that rainy day in northern Peru.  The three known specimens, two females and a male, possess a combination of characters that prevents their placement in any currently recognized genus.  For this strange little owl we propose the generic name  Xenoglaux gen. nov.  TYPE-SPECIES: Xenoglaux loweryi O'Neill and Graves.  ...  Xenoglaux loweryi sp. nov.   LONG-WHISKERED OWLET   ...   ETYMOLOGY: The name Xenoglaux comes from the Greek words Xenos, strange or foreign, and glaux, an owl, and alludes to the peculiar expression of this tiny bird with its greatly exagerrated facial whiskers, and intense, staring, amber-orange eyes that make it a true stranger among owls.  The name is masculine in gender.  We take pleasure in applying the specific epithet loweryi in honor of our mentor and friend George H. Lowery, Jr., in recognition of his influence upon us and upon neotropical ornithology.” (O'Neill & Graves 1977); "Xenoglaux O'Neill and Graves, 1977, Auk, 94 (3), p. 410.  Type by original designation and monotypy, Xenoglaux loweryi O'Neill and Graves, 1977." (JAJ 2020).

loweryi
Prof. George Hines Lowery, Jr. (1913-1978) US zoologist (subsp. Quiscalus mexicanus, Xenoglaux).